No cuts for New Caney ISD because of higher attendance

As other school districts around the Houston area deal with budget issues, the New Caney Independent School District is staving off major cuts because of continued growth in the district.

The NCISD Board of Trustees discussed growth as well as contract renewals and hiring to fill several positions at its Monday meeting.

“Fortunately, New Caney ISD has so far been able to avoid the layoffs and pink slips that other school districts have had to dole out,” NCISD Superintendent Kenn Franklin stated in an e-mail. “We’re very proud of that. We’ve done so by making cuts to the proposed budget where it would least affect instruction and students and by reevaluating our programs. We also avoided possible layoffs through attrition.

“Thirty-eight employees took advantage of an incentive program in February and March for early notification of resignation or retirement.”

The NCISD has increased by 600 students from last year in its average daily attendance, which means the district will receive more money per student.

“We have had a lot of growth in the district as well as an increase in our property tax collections, which have helped our budget tremendously,” said Clisty Vaden, NCISD finance department executive director. “The only thing about our tax collections increasing is that will mean we will receive less in state revenue. We are still very pleased.”

The district is planning to host a pre-kindergarten and kindergarten round-up which may entice more area residents to enroll their students in the district.

“This year’s boost in student enrollment greatly impacted the current year’s budget,” Franklin stated in the e-mail. “New Caney ISD’s ability to close a $3.8 million dollar budget gap this year was due in large part to additional funds for student growth.”

New Caney ISD receives about $5,200 per weighted average daily attendance, so an increase of 600 in ADA means NCISD receives an additional $3.1 million from the state for the current school year.

The district also zeroed out its budget from an $8.8 million deficit at the beginning of the year by making small cuts where they could.

Policy change: Trustees reviewed a possible change in policy to how teachers and other school employees are allowed to use Facebook and other social media tools.

“This has implications for all of the staff of New Caney ISD, which most use social media networking sites,” said Jon Kramer, NCISD Human Resources executive director.

The Texas Association of School Boards sent out a recommendation for social media where teachers, paraprofessionals and district employees cannot friend students from their personal Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or any other social media website.

The teacher or employee may set up a professional account to friend students but this must be approved by NCISD superintendent first.

The district formed a committee that presented recommendations to the board at its April meeting for review. The board can choose to approve the social media measures at its May meeting.